Closed Ser Iros And The Snake.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The knight didn't stop on the first steps from the snake - he just followed along, making quite an excellent job in tracking the girl through her attempts to dodge. After all, there was only one way she could go - backwards. Every time she stepped to the side, he mimicked her and pushed her farther and farther back.. until there was nothing left. Nothing but the Well of Filth stretching out behind her, and large trees to either side. With her words, he only snorted mild laughter and pushed forwards even harder. She may have been laying it thick with the insults to his honour, but she wasn't doing anything beside that but jumping around like the squirrel often did. "You've got a big mouth and tiny fists, you know. You can claim my weaknesses and insult me all you like, but I don't see you throwing a single punch since you started talking." It wasn't obvious from beneath the heavy helmet and the towering shield, but he was actually smiling.

"Now, are you going to take a swim, or are you going to try and fight me." It wasn't actually obvious, but the man was beginning to call upon his Evantia aura with a very subtle tap from the spear raising just slightly. Within fifty metres, it slowly spread as an invisible aura that the Akalak could use to concentrate on the next movements of the girl, and react accordingly. Likely, even if she tried to fake out, he'd be able to read it as well. "I'd love to see you throw a punch at my shield." The thing was still there, more of a brick wall than anything else, between her and the smirking man.

Suresslynn was very lucky, however. Just as he was getting ready to give her a final shove, he stopped. Archailist was slipping right between his feet, with the string still held out and extending between his paws, to wrap around one of his ankles. Eyris knew why, too - to trip him over and help Suresslynn escape. In retaliation, he lifted the foot just a few inches off the ground, to assure that he wouldn't be able to reach it. However.. that didn't do any good either. As soon as he'd lifted the foot, the motives of the squirrel changed and he turned on one paw, and sprinted right for the opposite foot. The Akalak could read the movements of the squirrel.. he knew exactly what he was going to do, at exactly the same time the squirrel knew them. That didn't mean that he was the faster of the two. The man lowered his foot, but it was already too late - the squirrel was running head-long for the opposite ankle, and he didn't bother to use the string this time. He just slammed his own side against the ankle, and immediately knocked the man's balance out from underneath it.

Immediately, the squirrel turned and sprinted for the open space on all-fours, with barely a glance back at the man. The weight of his armour, and that of the heavy shield and spear, were all a bit too much for him to overcome through just his balance. He was going down.. straight into the Well of Filth.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn had messed up, letting him get her back to the water. The Dhani was a desertbred snake, and had no idea how to swim, or really do anything in the water or with it, except drink it. But she did have a plan, dodge his final thrust and move sideways as quickly as she could. If it came down to it, she was certain she could outrun him and gain an open room to move again, if she got the chance. If not, she could simply dodge his thrusts until an opening presented itself.

However, before she could make her move, Archailist apparently decided that they were done fighting and interrupted, tripping his patron...right towards her. There was no strategy in her retreat this time, just a wild dive away from the Akalak as he fell in the pond, sprawling on the ground as water splashed from the well of filth. "Thank you, Archailist. I underestimated his patience and intelligence. I did know a weakness though." she said as she stood up and looked over at the Akalak. "Um...can he swim with all that? Or swim period? Because...I can't, so if we need to get him out, it's going to be...difficult." she said, grimacing slightly. "And won't you get in trouble for that? I mean, he is your patron?" she asked, giving the Pycon a worried look.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Arch got his answer in the form of a very loud, very annoyed yell as the man fell into the well. Black, horribly putrid slime covered him from head to toe, and goodness did it stink like something foul. It wasn't deep, and the knight soon rose once more, but he was evidently incredibly annoyed. His jaw was set tight, and his shoulders bunched so much that even through under the heavy plate-mail, it was pretty damn obvious. He'd never really seen the man so utterly enraged before - if he wasn't already crimson, the Akalak would have likely been just as red anyway. Half of the squirrel was telling him to just.. run. Turn around, get on the back of Xarex and leg it before the man tried anything else. But.. running away would do nothing, in the end. The man would likely chase him.. and so what if he made it back to the city, this Akalak was his mentor, supposedly. There was no escape from his wrath once it'd started. There was only one thing left to do, really - and that was to brace himself to fight back, alongside Suresslynn.

"Well.. yes, I'd imagine that I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for knocking my patron knight into the Well of Filth." He didn't really look at her - he was too busy watching the huge Akalak lumber out of the pool and begin advancing on both of them. "And... yes. I don't think you should underestimate his intelligence a second time." The man might be reeling in his desperate want to impale the girl and him, but it was only barely - the spear was still reversed, so that the butt would be what hit them. He didn't wait more than a few ticks from his emergence, before he launched himself towards both of them as well, with his shield once again raised to take the form of a battering ram. Instead of taking it defensively, he swung it around in a wide arc for Suress, and then tapped his Evantia aura to make sure he knew exactly where she intended to move. The subtle twitches, the slightest nuances.. he could read them all, anticipate where she moved, and then immediately follow the wide swing with a sharp jab of his spear, right for where her midsection was going to be.

As for Arch.. he could predict, from twenty or thirty feet, where the squirrel was intending to move towards.. and he could match his footprints. The squirrel was nearly crushed, and the feet knew exactly where he planned to move towards, before he reached the destination. He was damn fast through his reflexes alone, but the man had an obvious advantage in extended close-range combat using the aura. He could predict where the squirrel was going to move, how, and when. He could prepare himself and step right where he was going to be along his acrobatic movements. The squirrel did not have the same luxury, unfortunately. He could only run on his reflexes and basic instinct in order to escape the feet, that kept constantly moving around in an attempt to crush his body. Not that it wouldn't be that bad.. but it wasn't something he really wanted to happen at that moment. All the while, though, the string was set between his paws.. ready to take the right moment to latch around one of the ankles. It wasn't easy to find an opening, though. The man knew about the string, what he wanted to do with it.. the squirrel kept finding openings, but every time he did, they disappeared once again. Shyke.

He really was thinking several steps ahead now - predicting exactly where they were going to move, and then reacting to each and every intention. He could read both of them like books, at the same time, and block with their shield or with his feet. Even though he was unstable in his constant movement of his body, it seemed as though he was completely in control - a veritable tornado of steel and crimson muscle, unstoppable.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grimaced as the big man stood up, clearly just barely keeping himself from using the pointy end of his spear. "I think we made him mad...can't imagine why." she said as the Akalak paused before charging at them, making a wide swing at her. "Easy enough to dodge...I might have my opening soon." she thought as she went to evade the swing. However, as she evaded, the Akalak changed his move and jabbed her right in the gut the instant she made her move, almost as if he had known where she was going as soon as she did. Giving a grunt of mixed excitement and pain, the Dhani sped away from the Akalak, backing up to give herself room to think. "He can predict my movements better...he couldn't do that before...so this is what he had up his sleeve, some way of predicting my movements..." she said quietly, taking a deep breath as her pain settled into her gut. In a way, she thought the fact that she enjoyed her pain gave her an advantage. Most people went out of their way to avoid feeling their pain, but she enjoyed it, reveled in it, savored it, craved it. Straightening up, Suresslynn grinned at the Akalak before pulling into her fighting stance.

This time she was a bit more prepared for his apparent ability to see what she was going to do, and for every step he took towards her, she took a step back, keeping on the very edge of his range so that all she had to do was step back to avoid his hits. "Your new trick is very impressive, Iros, but you'll need more than that, or a big pond you want to dump me in, to beat me. Besides, this just got fun." she said, with that wild grin she had when she really got into a match. This time she was careful to avoid backing herself against a tree or the pond, sidestepping as needed while she stayed at the edge of the big man's range. "All that armor slowing you down, Iros? You know, if you weren't so scared of actually getting hit, you could be a lot faster. But instead you have to hide behind all that heavy armor to protect your soft hide." she said recklessly. She needed Iros in a blind rage, needed him to make the mistake she wanted him to make. All she needed was for Iros to put his whole body behind a single, powerful thrust, stepping forward to hit her. If he did, he'd have to move his shield to give him to put all his power behind the thrust, and the forward step would bring him range. She just needed him to get mad enough to do it...

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Eyris didn't really seem all too excited about the first impact. If anything, he was just more determined to get another hit in. As she backed up, he kept moving forwards with the shield held up in front of him, braced in case there was a counter-attack.. but he didn't think there was going to be one, at all. The girl was showing no signs of attack through his Evantia aura. Not to mention, she'd not even attempted one swing in his direction since their fight had begun. Perhaps it was the shield, or perhaps it was the fact that she just wasn't as sure of herself as when she started this whole fiasco. It didn't really matter to Eyris. As long as he got his hits in, he'd be fine. As long as he didn't get hit, he'd be fine. Not that it really looked like the girl had any chance, even when she'd started out. He had everything she didn't - a huge shield, a full set of plate-mail, muscle. She didn't even have a weapon to hit him with, and if she did, she'd never be able to get around the huge shield that he held in front of himself.

The best thing she could do was keep moving backwards. And in return, he just kept moving forwards, pushing her back through the undergrowth. All it'd take is one errant twig, or a rock, or a root. Every time her eyes passed away from him, he took it in. Just to make sure that her eyes remained on him, the butt of his spear repeatedly jabbed at her - sometimes intending to snag her while she wasn't paying attention, sometimes in mock to see how she'd react. Unlike her, though, he wasn't happy to wait very long for such an opening. "Either you can commit to your words and fight with honour, like the human you take the form of - or you can cower away and throw blind insults, and I can ride you down on the back of my horse like the snake you are." He wasn't joking, either. He may be disciplined, but that didn't mean that he was going to stand around and listen to her throwing her jibes at him while cowering away from any fighting.

All the while, Arch was still trying to do something - anything. But it wasn't working any more. The few attacks he could manage weren't strong enough to actually trip the man up - if anything, they just ended up throwing the squirrel around on the few occasions that he managed to get the string around Eyris' legs. After a few attempts, the squirrel simply gave up on the idea and decided to try for something new. For the next step, the squirrel hopped up and grappled onto the outer edge of the Akalak's plate-mail around the side of his shin, before he climbed up and began the rather slow and agonizing trip up the side of his leg and up the side of his midsection. Of course, the Akalak realized what was going on pretty damn soon, but there was little he could do - not with a shield and a spear making busy work of his hands. Neither of them were particularly useful in close range, either. "Eyris, give up, or this is going around your damn neck!"

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn smirked as Iros tried to goad her into a direct confrontation again, the knowledge that she was getting under his skin serving to boost her mood. Besides, she had seen the space in his armor at his waist that was probably designed to allow him to move easier, but it was also a vulnerability if she could get there. True, he had some kind of armor that went around his waist, but there was a small space that she could just barely get at if she could get close enough. If he turned his back, she'd definitely have a chance to finally land a hit in, and she'd be too close for him to effectively use his spear. Maybe his shield, but that wasn't a weapon.

And then she heard Archailist's voice. "Ah, shyke." she said, stopping her backwards motion suddenly. If Iros could trap the squirrel to his side and slam him against something, it could kill Archailist, which was something the Dhani would not allow to happen. On Iros's very next thrust, the Dhani changed her strategy, ducking low under the spear, something her small stature just barely allowed her to do, and stepping forward, all as fast as she could. "Iros! You wanted me to fight you the only way your limited brain knows how, you got it!" she snapped at the Akalak as she charged him, aiming for that small opening at the waist.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The squirrel was under little danger at the moment. Even through the mild squirming of the massive Akalak, Arch climbed up the side of the man all the way up to the throat with hardly a moment of difficulty. The best the man could manage was a terrible attempt as squishing the clay animal between his cheek and shoulder with a tilt of his head. It fell wrong awfully quickly, and the squirrel easily sneaked onto the opposite shoulder in order to loosen the string to throw it over his head and pull it down tight underneath his chin. The match was as good as over, with the equivalent of a knife pressed against the base of his neck, when the girl suddenly charged. Even though the squirrel had pretty much complete control over the man by this point, he was still getting to grips with the situation when the Akalak subtley twisted the huge shield around and pushed it forwards with the force of a punch.

His Evantia aura was still stretched out, and he knew exactly where she expected to go. He could move around just as she did, and meet her the moment she attempted to make an attack. Although, the squirrel soon had a decent grip on the man, and even went as far as to whisper into his ear, through the thick helmet. "It's over, Eyris. Down on your knees, and lower both of your weapons." It took a few moments for the man to register that it was really over.. but a little tightening on the sharp string around his throat eventually drove him to compliance. He took several steps back from Suresslynn, and lowered both shield and spear to the ground before he raised both hands and lowered down to his knees.

"You keep calling me squishy.. I think it's time I gave you a nickname, pointing out your weakness." He could feel the heat, the anger, boiling underneath his skin as heavy breaths pushed out through his mouth and nose. "You know what, I'm going to call you Ser Snail." That did it. The man reared up with both of his hands grasping for the small squirrel, but the Pycon tightened his grip just enough to draw out little crimson droplets of blood that seemed about the same shade as his skin. However, he calmed down eventually and returned to his knees. "Good."

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grinned as the Akalak tried punch her with the shield, then sidestepped. It still hit her in the shoulder and hurt like hell, but she actually enjoyed that to a certain degree. However, it did push her away from him, which to her mind was the bigger problem. However, before she could think of a way to counter his shield, the big man suddenly retreated away from her, as if he was having second thoughts. After a moment, the big man reared up, grabbing for something for on his back, only to subside again after a moment. It was then that Suresslynn saw Archailist on the big man's back. "Thank you, Archailist, he was giving a lot more trouble than I expected." she said, before stepping up to the pair, now simply walking normally.

"I believe I owe you an apology for underestimating your skill in combat, Iros or Eyris or whatever your name is, I'm not sure at this point." she said, bowing slightly. "If possible, I would like to spar with you one day down the road. My way of fighting might not be one you seem to understand, but I think you'll find that once I get better at it, I'll be able to fight you on more even ground." she said, her tone somewhat exhilarated and excited, like it always was when she had a fun match. Pulling up her shirt a bit, she looked at the bruise on her torso from where the Akalak had hit her. "Oooh, that's gonna hurt in the morning. That'll be nice." she said, reaching down and poking the bruise a few times.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Eyris was far too annoyed at the moment to really pay too much attention to the girl going on about something or other - although, he definitely had something to say to her about her damn style. "Once you get better at it. Yeah right. You don't have strength in your muscle, you can't commit to your attacks when you make them. Even when they do, you don't fight with any weapons - or anything on your fists. The only thing you'll succeed in doing is breaking your hands on my shield long before you manage to get around it." He wasn't stupid, he knew combat. The girl just wasn't going to live up to what she said - she'd not done it so far, during the entire fight, and he seriously doubted that she ever really would live up to it. Even with the man down on his knees, arms raised to his sides, in a position of submission, he still looked down on her for her performance in battle.

Not that his biggest concern was her. The squirrel was still quite secure upon his neck. "I think it's time we went back to the city now, Ser." His voice almost sounded normal once again - like he was relinquishing his order and returning to the calm and rational squire that could almost always be found near to the humongous Akalak. The first twitch that Eyris gave, however, had the string tightening just a little more around his neck, making it hard to breathe. "Try anything else like that and it'll be back around your throat. It's behaviour unbefitting a knight and you should be ashamed of yourself." Then its hold loosened, and released altogether as the squirrel wrapped the Py-String into a little coil and kept it tight to his side. As Eyris, now Iros, rose to his feet once more the squirrel hopped down calmly from his side and called for his mount. Xarex didn't hesitate to burst back through the undergrowth and nearly tackle the squirrel, if not for a calming hand pushing him down.

For the moment, Suresslynn was left on a bit of a back-seat. Ser Iros still wasn't pleased, after all. "You know, Squire Archailist.. you are not one to decide what is and what is not behaviour unbefitting a knight. I am the knight." Arch had heard enough already that day - the last thing he wanted, was a second fight with the man that was supposed to be his mentor, and yet went around trying to give civilians black eyes and bruises. He'd just about had enough listening the man at all for a good five or six days. "Then you have no excuse for the behaviour you showed today. You were rude, you were violent, and you were uncivilized. A Knight of Peace, Order and Civilization.. I sometimes wonder how you got the job at all." He shook his head as he crawled up into place on the dogs back, and nodded afterwards to Suresslynn.

"I have a feeling that you won't be wanting it... but I'm sure that Ser Iros here will be happy to pay for any healer to see to your bruises and wounds." Just for a little bit of extra incentive, he glared hard at the man until he eventually sighed and nodded in deference. It felt strange and.. oddly empowering to be able to boss the man that was his supposed mentor around so easily. Even when he didn't have a piece of string wound tightly around his neck, threatening to cut off his air supply and potentially kill him. "For now... I think it's time to head back to Syliras. You're more than welcome to join us, Suresslynn, if you're heading that way." It was the least that the knight could offer - a personal escort back into the castle.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn merely smirked as Iros mocked her way of fighting again, but this time she didn't bother to respond. Arguing with the Akalak was a waste of time and besides, his attitude would make it all the sweeter when she proved him dead wrong. The Dhani simply watched the exchange between Iros and Archailist, then shrugged at the offer of medical help. "I'm fine, really. Maybe one bruise, and it'll mend on it's own well enough. I mean, I won't say no, but I'm not going to push it." she said as she started to walk back to her horse. "But I'll gladly ride with you back to the city. After all, I don't really have anything better to do." she said, grinning slightly before she cocked her head to the side.

"Well, there's a few things I have to do out here in the woods, gather herbs and such, but I can put that aside for later." she said, scratching her head a bit before shrugging slightly. "Anyway, that doesn't have much to do with you two and I don't want to waste your time with stuff I got to practice for work and whatnot." she said, poking at her bruised side under her jacket. "Besides, I don't doubt that Iros at least probably has something he needs to do, some kind of knightly thing like polishing his armor or something, and you've probably got actual work to do." she said, making it a little clear that Iros had sullied the Dhani's views of the knighthood whereas she seemed to respect Archailist a good deal more as a squire.