fandomhighdorms | Salle, Wednesday Morning

Not hellfire nor icy cold nor hangover would keep Arthur Pendragon from a challenge, even if it was one opposite an opponent he didn't feel too comfortable with. Looking vaguely bedraggled but proud, he stalked into the salle, sword at his hip. "Lady Elspeth," he greeted, "Good morning."

"Good morning, Prince Arthur," Elspeth said. "Do you want to warm up a bit before we start?"

"Of course," Arthur said. He may have finally agreed with this match, but that didn't mean he was planning to taunt her or anything. He rolled one of his shoulders, then moved to do just that.

Elspeth worked through a few more exercises while she waited for him to be ready.

When he was finished, Arthur tilted his head back to shoot her a look. "Lady Elspeth," he called, "At your convenience?"

It was a miracle his manners hadn't completely atrophied while he was here.

Elspeth nodded. She stepped onto the sparring mat ~~if there is one~~, lifted her sword and took a defensive stance. "Ready," she said.

Okay. She was good. He had no intentions of looking like a fool again.

Not that he had in the first place. But. The point. She stood.

Arthur readied his own sword into an equal stance-- measuring her up.

Elspeth watched him for a moment, then took a couple of quick steps forward and swung her blade at his throat. She didn't expect the blow to connect, since it was a simple move to block and he was ready for it. But she wanted to see what he'd chose to do next.

It was an easy block, and Arthur knew it; he wasn't sure whether it was on purpose or not, but he parried accordingly.

When she had gotten close enough for him to bring his knee firmly up towards her midsection, mind. He wasn't about to make the same mistake he did last time.

Elspeth arched her back, pulling her midsection away so his knee didn't do much more than nudge her. She grinned at him and swung her sword around, trying to catch his side just below his sword arm.

Well, that right there made her better than about three-fourths of the rubbish they sent him for potential knights back home. Huh. Arthur actually had to strain slightly to catch that one, but he parried it easily, followed it up with a strike at her other side, as fast as he could twist it.

He was fast.

She couldn't bring her sword around fast enough to block. That was going to bruise. She inhaled sharply when the blow connected and swung her blade downward, trying to push his sword out and away from both of them. She pivoted with the move and in the same motion threw her other elbow at his face.

Arthur may have been a little distracted by the whole I-just-struck-a-girl factor - give it time and that might come out - and as such caught the elbow firmly across his face. Ow.

He compensated quickly, of course, bringing his sword up and settling back into a defensive stance. For a moment, he wondered if his nose was bleeding. Luckily not.

That certainly served to knock away any last vestiges of snarky commentary in the back of his brain.

Edited 2009-05-27 08:47 (UTC)

Elspeth brought her sword around toward him, aiming high, toward the face again, then cutting down abruptly and going for his leg.

Now, he was in the right frame of mind for this. Her quick change got an equally quick one as he caught the blade by his leg, barely an inch away, but it was an inch and Arthur spent no time worrying about that fact.

He shoved the blade to the right as best as possible, then suddenly struck down towards her thigh. His mouth almost involuntarily twitched into a slight smirk. It'd been too long since he had a proper swordfight - Zack didn't count.

She pulled her leg in, towards herself, knee up, so the blade missed her thigh by just a hair. Then she struck out with that foot, aiming for the side of his knee. Her sword moved back down at the same time and the same angle, but it was aimed at his midsection.

He knew that move. He'd practically invented it. As he blocked, he took a quick step backwards, hoping to parry her in such a way that she'd slide right on past him. He was not going to have his own bloody knees kicked out from under him.

Arthur enjoyed doing that to other people too much.

Hellfire, she'd put too much into that move. When he pulled out of the way and parried - he was fast - she couldn't pull back without leaving herself open. So she pushed forward, taking a step forward and bringing her sword around and down at his other leg.

He wasn't fast enough to catch that one, though, and so he took the hit with the slightest wince. Bloody hell, that hurt.

Of course, in such close quarters, the only solution was to ignore the burning pain and attempt to slam the other side of his body into hers. He'd get to flailing over the beating up a girl part in a few moments.

Edited 2009-05-28 07:54 (UTC)

She hadn't been expecting that (plus he outweighed her) and the move sent her stumbling back. She managed - barely - to stay on her feet and brought her sword back to a defensive position.

Ohthankgodshedidn'tfallover, said the part of Arthur's mind dedicated to being nice to women.

The rest of him was taking a moment to breathe before giving his sword a twirl, and settling back into position. He was not going to admit aloud that he was actually getting a little winded off of this one.

She wasn't going to admit getting winded, either, but she didn't come back with an attack right away. Instead, she gave her own sword a twirl and shifted her stance slightly while still watching him closely.

Seconds, seconds...

He stood there for just about that long, and then he charged, feinting for her left side before switching it up to high, right in actuality. Much as he could while still keeping as much distance between them as he could.

Arthur knew now she knew the kind of tricks that tended to trip up most people he'd sparred with here so far. He had to be careful.

She caught the feint and brought up her sword to block it. A part of her noticed that he wasn't trying to close the distance between them and while she didn't have time to consciously form a plan, instinct took it into account.

She twisted and slammed her left shoulder at his chest, hoping that momentum and surprise would even up the weight difference.

It was a bit of a surprise, yes, which was the entire explanation Arthur could come up with as he found himself stumbling back a step or two. Compensate. Compensate. Keep your mind clear, focused.

I won't hear of my son being beaten by a girl, Arthur. It would be an embarrassment.

When he settled, his grip on the hilt of his sword was firm. He didn't channel any rage into it, because that was left to himself, but he did dart forward to strike at Elspeth's knee with very focused intent as soon as he was anywhere near steady.

The strike connected, Elspeth stumbled and this time she went down as her knee buckled under. She swung her blade in a wild strike at his knees as she fell.

Which forced him to jump back with a suddenness.

He'd already wound up falling down on one person this week in the wake of a spar. He would prefer to avoid doing it again.

Her knee throbbed. It wasn't a severe injury, but it'd leave a mark and she'd probably be limping for a couple of hours. She lowered her sword in a gesture of surrender. It was a fair fight and he'd bested her this time.

See, normally, this was where the gloating started.

But in Arthur's subconscious estimation, this hadn't been a fair fight for a very simple reason, and so the first words out of his mouth were an earnestly meant, "Are you all right?"

For that Elspeth scowled at him as she scrambled to her feet, avoiding putting weight on the bruised knee. "I'm fine," she said, then added a little more politely, "Good fight."

What had he done wrong now? It was starting to get ridiculous. The day had best not continue on like this.

"You were trained well, milady," Arthur offered, opting to settle for formality in this case. It was safer.

"As were you," Elspeth said. Formality was good. She offered him her hand. "Thank you for the match. You're a worthy opponent."

He wasn't, in fact, dense enough not to realise that the proper answer was, "As were you, as well," and a firm shake of her hand. She really was ridiculously good at it for a girl, Arthur had to admit, and so it didn't actually sound fake.

There was a slight pause, as several factors warred, but he finally did say, "Good trick with the shoulder."

Even if it had set him off something royal.

She smiled. "Thanks. Guess I'll have to figure out something new for next time since you know that trick now."

Next time. Lovely.

He didn't quite keep the yeah, um, about that from registering on his features.

Finally, his mouth set into an uncomfortable line, and he said, "I suppose you will."

Salle, Wednesday Morning

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