It took Mizra a long moment to show a reaction to her last few killing methods, but when he did it was in the form of a surprised "well done" and a raised eyebrow.
Oops. Did NOT mean to freak him out.
"I never did say you had to use your weapon for them all. Good ingenuity," he added as he turned away to check on a group. "I'll be right back. Take a break."
Though she didn't think she needed it, Adi obliged and took a long drink of water from her waterskin. Somewhat cool and very refreshing water that had been sitting in the waterskin for a few days. Ah well. Water is water, she thought. What would it even take for water to go bad? Can it go bad? What am I even doing. I need to be concentrating on this, not on water.
When Mizra returned (to Adi's relief-she was starting to irritate herself), the young Vantha leapt up at the sight of him, taking the wooden training dagger with her. "What's the last round going to be?" she asked, stepping forward and following the Akalak as he led her back to the area they fought in earlier.
"Last round, I had you demonstrate ways to kill. You won't always need those skills-in fact, it's very rare you ever will. Now you're going to do the opposite." The Grand Master's reply confused Adi. What was the opposite of killing? Healing? This was a Kuvan test, not a day of prayer to Rak'keli. The woman raised an eyebrow and voiced her confusion to her trainer, who chuckled. "No, Adi. You need to protect yourself from me. I don't think you could handle all my strength, but at the end of the round you'll count your wounds. This is what will determine if you pass or fail."
It didn't occur to Adi to ask him what the threshold for failure was. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then paused for a moment before proceeding. Her feet planted on the ground, Adi crouched slightly, hoping to stay as low as possible. Hopefully if she kept close to the floor, she'd be able to roll or lunge away from anything he might try. Lunging and rolling and pouncing weren't her strong suits, but if it could keep her skin unmarred and her bones unbroken, it was worth a try. Anything was.
She raised an arm above her eyes, which had gone mostly brown and did not want to look around. Her right arm remained by her side, clutching the wooden hilt of the dagger like a life source. In some ways, it was.
This one goes out to anyone who can hear me. Please help me pass this test.
There was no response.
She took a final deep breath, then nodded to Mizra. "Alright. I'm ready."
He did nothing for a nerve-wracking moment, then grinned and pounced at her, his own blade extended. The weapon he held was wooden and very simple in design, like her own dagger was. What was the point in paying a great deal of money for a weapon which could break or snap easily, and wasn't meant to last at all? Mizra swung his arm out to the side, intent on catching her with his blade. Adi herself was unprepared for his first strike, and rolled out of the way a moment too late. The Akalak's dagger connected with her thigh, producing a sharp pang of pain in the woman's upper leg that would most likely result in a bruise tomorrow. She winced when the weapon hit her, but made no noise. Instead, she rolled as best as she could away from him and wound up a mere foot away from the wildly moving feet of another practicing. Adi panicked and forgot to move until the foot of the stranger was firmly planted on her hair. Then she sat up and gasped painfully when her hair didn't move with the rest of her body. The stranger moved almost immediately after, but didn't bother to ask if she was okay. Adi huffed at his inconsideration for her feelings.
Mizra, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, was advancing towards her slowly but surely. It gave her an idea. She stood up, back towards the Akalak, and looked around for him, pretending not to know he was behind her. Her eyes, beginning to streak through with pink from anticipation of her plan, flicked around in search of someone whose location she knew. Adi listened carefully for his step behind her, waiting until she either feet or imagined his breath hot on her neck. Then she dropped to the floor and rolled backwards with all her force, knocking him off balance. Surprised, he took a step back.
Adi sprang to her feet and decided it'd be a good idea to stop rolling around.
The Grand Master advanced towards her when she stood up, using his forward motion to help carry his blade towards her chest. Adi knew she wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time, and raised her arm and dagger in an attempt at defending herself. To her surprise, it worked, and she caught his weapon on the handle of her own. She used as much force as she could to push against the bulky Akalak, trying to force an opening. Adi succeeded in that regard and slashed at his torso, grazing his side with the wooden practice weapon. It wasn't sharp enough to cut him, but it would hopefully sting. She wasn't planning on being the only person to come out of this wounded.
Her feet carried her two steps to the right with haste. The young Vantha didn't have time for a victory smirk as he came right back at her, then faked a move towards her right. Adi dove to the left, where he caught her with a swift blow in the leg.
Flinching at the contact, Adi righted herself and thrust her own practice blade at his shoulder. Its wooden point made contact with Mizra’s flesh, producing a muffled thump sound.
Sweat had, at this point, begun to run down her face and drip into her eyes and mouth. The salty taste lingered after a flick of her tongue cleared the droplets off her upper lip. The young woman stepped quickly back and to the side, hoping and trying to steer clear of being cornered. Even though there was perhaps a chime or two left in the fight at most, having her back to a wall was not a situation Adi wanted to put herself in, lest it lead to Mizra cornering her and whaling on her. There wouldn’t be much opportunity to duck and roll in a tight space, and there would be even less of a chance to prove herself worthy of being a Kuvan, a citizen of Riverfall who would protect the city in times of need, if she was simple enough to allow her opponent to trap her like a scared animal.
Adi was not an animal.
With that thought, she slashed-once, twice, again-at Mizra, who was constantly in her field of vision so he himself wasn’t surprised by the Vantha. He parried her blows, which infuriated Adi once, twice, and a third time. She made as if to slash at him again, but changed course at the last second to jab him straight in the center of his chest. Had they been using real weapons, her instructor would almost certainly be dead.
Panting, she dropped her weapon and said so.
